3 Takeaways From Penguins Big Win Over Oilers

On Thursday night, when the Pittsburgh Penguins faced the daunting task of shutting down Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, they responded with one of their best first-period performances of the season en route to a 5-3 victory at PPG Paints Arena.

After beginning their five-game homestand by blowing a 3-1 third-period lead and losing in a shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, Pittsburgh built up a 4-1 lead and never looked back.

Milestone Night (Again)

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is now the ninth-highest scorer in NHL history, surpassing Hall of Famer Joe Sakic thanks to another three-point night with a goal and two assists.

In the first, he set Bryan Rust for his 16th goal to make it 2-1 in favor of the home team. Later, he assisted on Drew O’Connor’s sixth of the year to extend the Penguins’ lead to 4-1.

Finally, on an early second-period power play, Crosby buried home his 12th thanks to a beautiful feed from Michael Bunting.

Meanwhile, Rust had three points to reach 32 on the year, becoming the ninth player in Pittsburgh history to accumulate eight or more seasons with at least 30 points.

Bend, but Don’t Break

Pittsburgh was up 4-1 after the first period, extending that lead to 5-1 in the second before the Oilers cut the deficit down to 5-3 heading into the second intermission.

After 20 minutes, the Penguins had almost doubled up the Oilers in shots 13-7 but would only collect 13 more over the final 40 minutes. Meanwhile, the visitors found their second wind and fired 36 shots at Alex Nedeljkovic in the second and third periods.

Thankfully, the Penguins had built a commanding league and could hold back one of the league’s most dynamic offenses. Unlike previous times, when Pittsburgh famously blew a two-goal lead, they held on to this one and averaged a 4-0 loss from earlier in the season.

Who Starts Against Ottawa?

Nedeljkovic was great on Thursday night, making 40 saves and giving up two even-strength goals and one on the power play. He finished the contest with a .930 SV%

Interestingly, his performance against Edmonton marked the first time this season that he finished with more than 40 saves and only the second time a Pittsburgh goalie made that many stops in a game.

Of course, the previous time came against the Oilers on Oct. 25 when Joel Blomqvist made 46 saves in a 4-0 loss.

Regarding the Penguins’ goalies, Tristan Jarry is currently winless in his last three starts with two shutout losses, while being the goalie on record the last time Pittsburgh played Ottawa on Dec. 14.

Does Mike Sullivan ride the hot hand? Nedeljkovic is 2-2-0 in his last four starts against a wildcard opponent, and does he return to a rotation?